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Gado Gado’s Popular COVID-Era Takeout Pop-Up, Oma’s Takeaway, Is Getting Its Own Restaurant Space

Expect creative platters that blend Chinese, American, and Southeast Asian barbecue styles

A white takeout bowl is filled with charred vegetables and miso broth. This dish is from Gado Gado.
Garden ramen from the Oma’s Takeaway pop-up
Brooke Jackson-Glidden / EPDX

When coronavirus closed the dining rooms of restaurants across the Portland area, Gado Gado, the popular Indonesian restaurant known for its elaborate rice-table dinners and intricate noodle soups, came up with something different: “Oma’s Takeaway,” a takeout pop-up that combined the recipes of chef Thomas Pisha-Duffly’s grandmother and “Asian stoner food,” became the hot “pivot” in the Hollywood District, with platters of smoked meats, Flamin’ Hot chicharrones, and durian layer cakes.

Soon, however, Oma’s Takeaway will have its own home. Gado Gado owners Mariah and Thomas Pisha-Duffly will open a second restaurant in August, a honed-in version of the pandemic-era pop-up.

According to Portland Monthly, it will open in the former Whiskey Soda Lounge space on SE Division Street (its first iteration was run out of Gado Gado’s kitchen, while the restaurant’s dining room was closed). The restaurant’s menu will mix and match different influences from Southeast Asian cuisines, and from Chinese and American styles of barbecue. The “stoner food” platters from the spring pop-up will make a comeback with twisted sides like cheesy five-spice tots and strawberry slaw.

Also on offer will be Singaporean-Chinese style house-smoked meats (think roasted duck and char siu). Other dishes may include beef rendang, a jackfruit curry, and an array of veggie sides from papaya salad to corn fritters.

As the name suggests, takeout will be a focus for Oma’s, although it will have a patio for on-site dining (indoor seating, open for four dinner services a week.

Gado Gado

1801 Northeast Cesar E Chavez Boulevard, , OR 97212 (503) 206-8778 Visit Website

Oma's Takeaway

3131 SE Division St, Portland, OR 97202 Visit Website

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